#54 Alexey Miller

Runs gas giant state-owned Gazprom, Russia's No. 1 company ($164.6 billion in sales). It helps to know people in high places. In addition to working under President Vladimir Putin in the St. Petersburg mayor's office in the 1990s, he worked alongside Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's PM, in the early aughts. Miller and Gazprom were spared from the U.S. economic sanctions list imposed in the wake of the Ukraine crisis earlier this year.

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Ukraine’s state owned oil and gas company, Naftogaz, is paying its bills on time. The company recently dished out another $70 million for its January gas deliveries from Russia’s Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas company. This is good news for Gazprom, which has been battling Naftogaz over late payments for the past several months. read »

The Hotel Ukraine was built as a homage to Communist ingenuity. Once the tallest building in Europe and the tallest hotel in the world, Stalin’s Ukraine is now owned by a billionaire named God and houses Moscow’s only Rolls Royce showroom. The property remains a symbol of both old and new Russia. read »

Yi Zheng, chairman of financial data and software supplier Hithink Royal Flush Information Network, has topped the latest list of China’s best CEOs published in the last issue of Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes.

Yi, who is also the company’s chairman, led Hithink to a 233% increase in net profit in 2015. The company read »

On Wednesday, Trump announced that he has selected former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon to head his Small Business Administration. McMahon is the wife of billionaire WWE promoter, Vincent McMahon, whose net worth FORBES estimates at $1.16 billion. read »

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While nearly all of the FORBES World's Most Powerful have topped the marquee, the higher you go, the exclusiveness and ranks gets thinner. At the peak is the most treasured perk of all, enjoyed only by one person on the list.